We are swaying on your hometown beach. Flowers
bloom where they should die. The breeze is gentle
as I wish you’d been. I am singing “La Vie en rose”
mispronounced without care, because love
has made the world beautiful, not because love
has made me blind. Or maybe you are singing
the one you wrote for me, never the same
key twice and with words I forgot on purpose
but if I tried I know I would remember
exactly how you sound when you say “bliss.”
One of these songs has made us the envy
of a woman scorned. Her fish-eyed gaze
cannot look away, tormented
even in dreams by our laughter
rippling across the multiverse.
Luckily, I have nothing to mourn.
Not the light through your curtains
nor the way it yellowed moments
into memories even as they were
unfolding. Not the day we stopped fucking
because we remembered a stupid joke
at the same time mid-thrust. I thank God
for knowing you, instead of saying
“Yes, I grew from it, but at what cost?”
I have no reason to regret being kind to you
and possess faith eternal as the creamy sand.
We are barefoot by the sea and you are kissing me
without thinking of anyone else.
The bad things never happened.
There is nothing to forgive.
bloom where they should die. The breeze is gentle
as I wish you’d been. I am singing “La Vie en rose”
mispronounced without care, because love
has made the world beautiful, not because love
has made me blind. Or maybe you are singing
the one you wrote for me, never the same
key twice and with words I forgot on purpose
but if I tried I know I would remember
exactly how you sound when you say “bliss.”
One of these songs has made us the envy
of a woman scorned. Her fish-eyed gaze
cannot look away, tormented
even in dreams by our laughter
rippling across the multiverse.
Luckily, I have nothing to mourn.
Not the light through your curtains
nor the way it yellowed moments
into memories even as they were
unfolding. Not the day we stopped fucking
because we remembered a stupid joke
at the same time mid-thrust. I thank God
for knowing you, instead of saying
“Yes, I grew from it, but at what cost?”
I have no reason to regret being kind to you
and possess faith eternal as the creamy sand.
We are barefoot by the sea and you are kissing me
without thinking of anyone else.
The bad things never happened.
There is nothing to forgive.
Camille Aguilar Rosas recently finished her undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She lives with ADHD and a twelve-year old calico cat. Her works have been previously published by Inklette Magazine, Déraciné Magazine, and Papeachu Press. Twitter and Instagram: @camoodles.